July 29, 2009

Mineta's Morons strike again

An eight-year-old boy who lost his dad to cancer traveled to Disney World to get his mind off the tragedy, but his family says he suffered yet another blow after his Disney toys were taken by TSA workers in Ft. Lauderdale.

The family of Jeremiah Ramirez brought the youngster from North Carolina to Disney to raise his spirits, a dream vacation after such a terrible loss.

"It was devastating," said Jeremiah's cousin, Joe Chao, who lives in South Florida. "I just wanted to bring some sunshine into my cousin's life."

While at Disney, little Jeremiah picked up a Pirates of the Caribbean toy gun and sword, and was hoping to bring them back to North Carolina.

But his mom says that when she and Jeremiah tried to go through security at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport earlier this week, the toys were taken away.

"It's very upsetting because at one point I had told one of the employees, 'You know this is not a real weapon,' and he said 'Yes, I understand that, it doesn't matter,'" said mom Maria Edge.

Edge said she became even angrier when she claims that not long after the TSA officers had confiscated the items, she saw the officers playing with the toy sword and gun.

Silver lining:

The story does have a happy ending. Disney officials sent Jeremiah replacement toys after they heard about the incident.